Friday, May 19, 2000

Regardless of man's willingness to
live, or the advancement in medicine, all of us will someday succumb to death's
calling.If one believes that God
created the world; would not the same loving God, also take care of mankind, by
giving eternal life after death to those who believe in Him?The Lutheran church synods Biblical
understanding is that a death is not a termination or ending of a person, but a
transitional experience.Namely, death
is the separation of the immortal soul from the mortal body until Judgment Day;
at which time, the soul is reunited with the imperishable body through God's
creation(Kinnamon, S.A., 2010, pg. 59,
62) (Engelbrecht, E.A., 2010, pg. 548) (1 Corinithians 15:42-44 English
Standard Version).

From a Lutheran's stance, this paper
will explain the nature of the Lutheranism and how
the previous stated Lutheran's ideology of death and the afterlife compare and
differ with the Catholic's ideology and the Islamic ideology.Additionally, the paper will also address the
following:How does the Bible portray
death?Does it explain death as eternal
'sleep' for both body and soul until Judgment Day or does it interpret death as
a separation between body and soul?Furthermore, is it possible that the testimonials (chosen in the paper)
from those who have witnessed their personal near-death experience, might also
be a foretell glimpse of life after death (Kinnamon, S.A., 2010, pg. 59, 62)?

Martin
Luther

Like other emerging Christian faiths
that have since capture the essence of Christianity, The Lutheran religion,
emerged from the sixteen-century Protestant Reformation movement.Martin Luther (1483-1546), a German Catholic
monk, theologian, and a Professor at the University of Wittenburg, became the
catalysis for the Protestant Reformation. Luther studied the Bible
extensively.Luther soon came to the
epiphany,that in order to receive
salvation, it was not by merits or good work, but is receiveddivinely by God's “grace through faith” alone
(Ephesians 2: 8-9 , ESV)(Kinnamon, S.A.,
2010, pg.168) (Bucher, R. P., Dr., 2014, What was the Lutheran Reformation).

Historically, it was common
practice, during Luther's time, for the Catholic church to sell (merits) paper
indulgences (stating sins are forgiven) for a cost, in exchange for good works
and acts of piety. Each certificate of indulgence secures “temporal punishment”
(Bucher, R. P., Dr., 2014, Facts about the 95 Theses).An indulgence is a suspension of the
temporal punishment for sin in purgatory. It can used for oneself or for one
who has recently died and may be in purgatory.(Indulgences, 2014). It does not
replace confession, which is done beforehand. Indulgences did not become a real
issue until Pope Leo X started using plenary indulgence to finance the building
of St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome in 1517.In this case, the plenary indulgence meant “all sin and eternal and
temporal punishment would be forgiven” (Bucher, R. P., Dr., 2014, Facts about
the 95 Theses).Unfortunately, there
were some in the church who took advantage of the poor by selling these
indulgences. One person, especially guilty, was a Dominican monk, named John
Tetzel.According to tradition in the
day, the advertising jingle went like this:“As soon as a coin in the coffer rings, a soul from the fires of
purgatory springs” (Moltmann, J., 1998, pg. 45)(Pfingsten, M., 2014) (Kinnamon, S.A., 2010,
pg. 167).

Pope Leo X usage of indulgences as a
fund raiser did become a profitable means for the church to pay for its
building project; however, this misuse of indulgences did not sit well with
Luther. The selling of indulgences for money became so repugnant, that Luther
wrote the Ninety-five Theses.Subsequently, it led to the beginning of the Reformation on October, 31,
1517. As a customary practice of his age, Luther nailed or posted his
Ninety-five Thesis on the Wittenburg's Castle Church door in order to provoke
an academic debate. Luther never intended to leave the Church. Thus, in hope in
reforming the church doctrine, he made copies of his thesis and mailed them to
local priests. The Ninety-five Theses disclosed the Roman Catholic Church error
in its thoughts, teachings, and practices on indulgence ( Bucher, R. P., Dr.,
Facts about the 95 Theses, 2014) (Pfingsten, M.,
2014).

There were a few main purposes of
the Ninety-five Theses. First, the focus of the church is no longer represented
by God, but by men who served the church.Second, people should not need a mediator to speak to God.It should be between the individual and
God.Third, grace should be free to all
and not limited to those who purchase indulgence.Fourth, the Pope of the church also has the
responsibility to be involved outside the church in order to meet the needs of
the suffering and needy.Fifth, the
church's laws and rules apply only to the living, not to those in
purgatory.Last, salvation does not come
from merits and good deeds, but by the divine grace of God through faith
(Bucher, R. P., Dr., The Presentation of the Augsburg
Confession, 2014) (Pfingsten, M., 2014).

The advent of the era's printing
press allowed individuals, who were like-minded in Luther's quest to more
easily convey the Church's objectionable conduct. Over weeks and months,
Luther's Ninety-five Theses circulated throughout Germany and all parts of
Europe. In 1521, Martin Luther was excommunicated and was accused of heresy.
Later that same year at the Diet of Worms, Charles V declared Luther as a
condemned man because he did not renounce his teachings; however, Luther was
supported and protected from harm by the princes of Saxony who believed in him.
Over the course of several years, Luther translated the Bible in German and
started his own church (1526 AD) (Bucher, R. P., Dr., The
Presentation of the Augsburg Confession, 2014) (Pfingsten,
M., 2014).

Personal
Review

This paper believes that Marin
Luther was an amazing man of integrity and who did not compromise away his
belief in the Scriptures for the Catholic Church.Luther's fateful break from the Church
originated from his own crisis, a consuming struggle concerning the meaning of
salvation.He did not set out to start
the Protestant Reformation or fracture the unity of Christianity, but only to
denounce certain teachings and practices of the Church.Thus, after intense rereading and studying
the Bible, Luther came to the final conclusion, that man's inward justification
by faith alone in God, is the only means to salvation, not by works or merits
or anything external. Ninety-Five Theses was the unintentional 'fuel' that
started the 'fire' for the Reformation movement. As a result, the Protestant
Reformation radically liberated man from the spiritual and authoritarian powers
dominated by the Catholic Church.

This paper also has the view that
the sixteen-century Catholic Church mistreated and terrorizedindividual souls in order to gain earthly and
political power.Specifically, the
Church practice in offering 'indulgences' to sinners seeking suspension of the
pains of purgatory in the consideration of 'gifts' made to the Church.It was Luther's reiteration from the Bible,
that salvation was given by God to man through 'justification by faith alone',
'grace alone', and Scriptures alone'.As
a Lutheran, salvation is given basically as an inward gift, a spiritual hidden region,
dependent on no human power, but completely on God's word.

Augsburg Confession

In 1530, Emperor Charles V wanted to
reunite Christians back to the pope, in order to enhance his imperial military
capability against any invasion from the Turks.As a result, he invited the Lutheran princes and theologians to attend
an Imperial Assembly in the city of Augsburg. In the eyes of the Church, Luther
was still an outlaw and a heretic. For this reason, Luther wanted
representation, so he sent his close comrade Philip Melanchthon to the meetings.
Assisted by Luther, Melanchthon became
the primary author of the Augsburg Confession, the written 'confession' that
came from the 'heart' of Martin Luther's beliefs.The Augsburg Confessions also became the
“Hallmark of Lutheran belief[s]” that encapsulated two essential
teachings:First, all doctrines from the
Lutheran church are from the Scriptures. Second, the most important teaching in
the Bible is the justification by faith in God (Bucher, R. P., Dr., The Presentation of the Augsburg Confession, 2014).

From the time of
Luther's Reformation in 1517, until the Europeans started migrating to America,
Lutherans denomination had taken hold in Europe as a the oldest “Protestant”
religion in Europe (Kinnaman, S. A., Lane, L. L., & Arand, C. P., 2010, pg.
170).To be more precise, Protestant
means “protest”. 'The word Protestantism represents several Christian
denominations who differ in the beliefs and doctrine of the Roman Catholic
Church (Kinnaman, S. A., Lane, L. L., & Arand, C. P., 2010, pg. 170). The
word 'Lutheran' came from the opponents of Martin Luther. The followers (those
who believed in Luther's teachings from the Bible) were the first Protestants
who launch a protest against the decision made by the Diet of Speyer
(1529).The Imperial decision was to
make it unlawful for any Lutheran teachings to occur within the Holy Roman
Empire (Lutheranism, 2014).Thus, the
conflict became so sizable that Luther's followers decided to be the first
Protestants to form a separate “evangelical church”, which later was named the
Lutheran church (Kinnaman, S. A., Lane, L. L., & Arand, C. P., 2010, pg.
170).

Personal Views

The
Augsburg Confession, on June 25, 1530, signifies not only the birth of the Lutheran
denomination, but also the Biblical-base confession in what the Lutheran Church
believes and teaches.As a Lutheran, the
Augsburg Confession is very meaningful.As mention before, in 1530, the Protestant reformers had the opportunity
to state their Biblical convictions and defend their belief and practices to
Emperor Charles V.Prior to this date
(June 25, 1530) one might be considered either a pagan or a member of Catholic
Church.Hence fourth, embedded in the
Augsburg Confession of Faith's twenty-eight articles, (which is also this
author's own Lutheran church teachings) are the meanings to three important
'alone' words:'Scripture alone',
'faith alone', 'grace alone'.Essentially, the Augsburg Confession has given this author 'free-will'
to believe that the word of God is the sole rule and norm, as well as,
strengthens one's life and faith.

Lutheran Church Synods

So, what makes
one Lutheran different from another? In America, the Lutheran church has
designed itself around what is called synods (walking together) for like-minded
religious reasons.Countless Lutheran
church bodies have experience a display of mergers, splits, and reconciliations
through the years.Their positions on particular
key doctrinal issues are significant signs as to whether their respective
church bodies are conservative, moderate or liberal.Two of the major issues that divided many
American Lutherans are “theological liberalism and biblical inerrancy”
(Kinnaman, S. A., Lane, L. L., & Arand, C. P., 2010, pg 190).Although there are several smaller Lutheran
synods or church bodies in the U.S.A., this paper will focus on the three main
Lutheran synods: Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), The Lutheran
Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod
(WELS) (Kinnaman, S. A., Lane, L. L., & Arand, C. P., 2010, pg 190).

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

The Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (liberal/ Evangelical) was established in 1988. It
has the largest Lutheran body.The synod
was created through the merging of three synods, the American Lutheran Church,
the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Lutheran Church in
America. The church believes in grace alone (not works), faith alone, (salvation
through faith), and Scriptures alone. However, this church does use historical
critique in interpreting the Bible; thereby,allows for possible “errors and cultural limitations” in the Bible
(Lutheranism, 2014) (Brug, J. F., Fredrich, E. C., & Schuetze, A. W.,
1995,pg. 53-56, 81).

This paper believes
that all the Bible errors are caused by artificial gender neutral language in
the NRSV translation that doesn’t exist in the ESV translation. This gender
neutral language also appears in the NIV 2011 edition which is why the Wisconsin
Evangelical Lutheran Synod will not update to the NIV 2011 edition. WELS may
switch to the ESV translation like LCMS had done.Lutheran scripture normally does not allow exceptions
to natural law. Luther’s Small Catechism specifically states a marriage is
between a man and woman and no gays and lesbians. ELCA also uses Historical
Criticism, because Gary Simpson wrote a Critical Theory book for Augsburg
Fortress. I am affiliated with the ELCA, because it is the largest Lutheran
senate and was introduced to Lutheranism from a now defunct predecessor synod. All
the villages in St. Croix County, Wisconsin only chose ELCA churches and its
cities have multiple ELCA churches.

The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod

The Lutheran
Church-Missouri Synod (moderate-conservative/confessional) became a synod in
1847, congregated by Saxon and German immigrants.It is the second largest synod. Unlike the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod has
grown from within, and not from any merging.The church also believes in grace alone (not works), faith alone
(salvation through faith), and Scriptures alone.The church views Scriptures as literal and
without error (inerrant) (Brug, J. F., Fredrich, E. C., & Schuetze, A. W.,
1995, pg. 22) (Lutheranism, 2014).

I own the ELCA’s NRSV
Lutheran Study Bible and the ESV Lutheran Study Bible, and found that the ESV Lutheran
Study Bible had more information in it.The NRSV Lutheran Study Bible’s study notes seemed sparse in comparison
with worse Goodreads reader reviews and rating. The Lutheran Church Missouri
synod is closer to the Lutheran Church of the mid-20th century when Lutheran
churches were confessional and the King James Bible was popular. The ESV
Lutheran Study Bible is a lot more detailed on notes, history, archeology,
introductions.Concordia Publishing
House has published superior Christian books over Augsburg Fortress. The LCMS
is the only significant Lutheran Church with an Apocrypha (ESV translation)
volume. LCMS is the only synod with Law and Gospel book. LCMS also publishes
conservative politics books for clergy to counterbalance the ELCA political
books.

The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod

The Wisconsin
Evangelical Lutheran Synod (most conservative/confessional) is the third
largest synod. The church dates itself back to 1828 as a United Rhine Mission
Society in Germany.The development of
the church in America was by a German mission society representative name John
Muehlhaeuser in 1850.Their pledge in
their church is “pure Bible Christianity”, in meaning, the inerrant Bible, the
creeds, and the Lutheran Confessions (Brug, J. F., Fredrich, E. C., &
Schuetze, A. W., 1995, pg 22).

I believe that WELS
is the strictest pure Bible synod where dancing is frown upon. My father grew
up in a Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod for 20 years and he did not like
it.The WELS uses the conservative New International
Version 1984 Bible translation, and members are not allowed to join Boy Scouts
or Girl Scouts in their church. WELS does not allow communion with Catholics
like the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod and Evangelical Lutheran Church of
America.I like the English Standard Version
more than NIV 1984, because the ESV translators at Crossway used the Internet research
to compile this translation.

Personal View

Although this author's family has had
relationships with all three major Synods, this author’s beliefs are more in
line with the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod theological teachings where the
Bible is God's own word and truth (inerrancy).

The Bible Stance on Death and Afterlife

So what is the
Bible's stance on death and afterlife?The Bible does report the cases of seven people who were raised from the
dead (1 Kings 17:17-24, ESV; 2 Kings 4:25-37, ESV; Luke 7:11-15; 8:41-56, ESV;
Acts 9:36-41; 20:9-11, ESV), but none of them, apart from Jesus, shared their
afterlife experience in the Scriptures.All the same, Romans 5:12 in the Bible, reminds Christians that the main
cause of death is sin.When Adam and Eve
rebelled against God they died spiritually.Physical-temporal death was their ultimate penalty (Genesis 3:17-19, ESV).
Subsequently, Adam's and Eve's sins subjected all creatures to 'death', 'decay'
and the 'return' to 'dust'. Any medical person can describe what happens to a
person at death, but they are only speaking about the physical body
(Engelbrecht, E., & Baker, R. C., 2010, pg. 545-546).

So is death the
end of existence?Not according to
Matthew 10:28 , ESV and Luke 12:20 , ESV.Lutheran's believes, that upon death, the “separation of the soul from
the body” does occur (Engelbrecht, E., & Baker, R. C., 2010, pg 546).At time of death, believer’s soul goes with God until the Second
Coming, at which time will be resurrected (Brug, J. F., Fredrich, E. C., &
Schuetze, 1995, pg 81) (What Lutherans Believe, 2014). In 1 Thessalonians 4:13,
ESV, death of a believer is described by God's word as “asleep”.In contrast, Proverbs 11:7, ESV describes the
death of unbeliever as the loss of hope(Engelbrecht, E., & Baker, R. C. , 2010, pg 546).

Luther's imagery
of the state of death is described as a dreamless sleep, vacant of time, space,
or consciousness. When the dead are raised by God, the resurrection will be on
God's time, not man's.

Luther's imaginary of death proceeds as follows:“We shall sleep until He comes and knocks on
our little grave, saying:'Dr. Martin,
get up! Then I shall rise up in a moment and shall be eternally merry with
Him'” (Moltmann, J., 1998, pg. 46-47).God's time between death and the road to salvation, may also be like
what Apostle Paul exclaims: “Suddenly, as a twinkling of the eye” (I
Corinthians 15:52 , ESV) (Moltmann, J., 1998, pg. 48)(Jakoblich, J., 2013).

Catholic Church

From the
beginnings of Christianity, the only church that existed was described as
universal, meaning assembly of believers or followers of Christ.In the Bible, Jesus was the first to reference
a church in Matthew 16:17-19. Jesus asks the disciples who do you think I
am?Simon Peter replied, “You are the
Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, "Blessed are you,
Simon, son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my
heavenly father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will
build my church and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on
earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed
in heaven" (Matthew 16:17-19, ESV).

The Hebrew reading
of Peter means 'rock'. According to the
Catholic Church's interpretation associating Peter as the 'rock', is that it
implies that Apostle Peter was the base or foundation to their church, as well
as, their authoritarian over the church.On the other hand, Lutherans as well as other Christian denominations,
may debate that the inference of 'rock' refers not to Peter per say, but as a
'rock' to Peter's confessional faith.Peter's testimony “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” can
be related to anyone who confesses that Jesus is the Lord and can be a member
of His church (Comparison of Christian Denominations' Beliefs, 2013)(Lutheranism,
2014).

This paper also has the view that the
sixteen-century Catholic Church exploited and terrorized the individual souls in
order to gain earthly and political power.Specifically, the Church practice in offering 'indulgences' to sinners
seeking suspension of the pains of purgatory in the consideration of 'gifts'
made to the Church.It was Luther's
concept that God's grace to man for salvation was by 'justification by faith
alone', grace alone, and scriptures alone.As a Lutheran, salvation is basically inward, a spiritual hidden region,
dependent on no human power, but completely on God's word.

Purgatory

The doctrine of purgatory
is not taught in the Lutherans religion.Purgatory is a Catholic belief.Purgatory is a process of purification after death to achieve holiness
necessary to enter the perfection of heaven.The intermediate period after death is simply a transitional state for
those who have deserved heaven but still have aspects of their souls that are
not yet fully purified (Jakoblich, J., 2013).

Additionally,
this is how Father William Saunders articulately describes the purgatory: “In a
sense our soul is like a lens, when we sin, we cloud the lens; it gets dirty
and we lose the focus of God in our lives. Through confession and penance, God
cleanses the "lens" of our soul. When we die, if we live this life
fundamentally loving God, dying in His grace and friendship, and free of mortal
sin, we will have eternal salvation and attain the beatific vision, we will see
God for who He is. If we die with venial sins or without having done sufficient
penance for our sins, God in His love, mercy and justice will purify our souls,
"cleanse the lens" so to speak. After such purification, the soul
will then be united with God in heaven and enjoy the beatific vision” (Saunders, W., Fr. , 1995).

Islam

The religion of Islam is one of the
youngest world religions and third monotheistic (Judaism, Christianity, and
Islam) religion in the Arabia.The word
Islam means 'peace'/'salam' in Arabic or 'submission'
(Arabic meaning of Muslim: a person who submits to the will of God).All Muslims use the phrase “peace be upon
him” and abbreviated “pbuh” after a prophet's name.This is regarded as respect. (Islam, 2014)(History
of Islam, 2014).

Islam was founded
by the Prophet Muhammad in around 622 CE.The story of Muhammad starts at the age forty (in 610 CE.) when he had
his first vision in the cave on Mount Hira.Muhammad thought he was possessed by a demon. He shares the event to his
wife (an elder by fifteen years) and she shares the story to her uncle (a converted
Christian). The uncle informs Muhammad that the vision did not come from a
demon but God. Hence, Muhammad rejected any idol worship in Mecca and became a
believer in one true god called Allah,'One True God'(What is Islam, 2014).

Islam Beliefs

The Islam religion does not believe Jesus is the Son of God nor
the trinity, but a prophet.The religion
has the understanding that Jesus did not die on the cross, instead used the premise
that God supplanted a substitute in his place.Angels were noted as Allah’s messengers and also as record keepers,
“recording good and bad deeds” (What is Islam, 2014).Angels are messengers from Allah.They also serve as record keepers, “recording
good and bad deeds” (What is Islam, 2014). Satan is called ‘Jinn’, a spiritual
being created out of fire. He represents the evil leader. (What is Islam, 2014).

Resurrection and
Salvation is in accordance to good deeds and obedience to Allah. At death,
Prophet Muhammad will come in defense for all Muslims before Allah, but Allah
is the final judge. Prior to each individual’s resurrection and salvation, Allah
weighs the number of sins against the number of good deeds.Time spent in hell will depend on which
weighs more, sins or good deeds, after which the individual will go to
paradise.All non-believers go to hell
(What is Islam, 2014).

The
Qur'an (Koran/English) is considered the main text because it is considered as
the literal words of God in Arabic.Although the Islam religion uses other texts, such as The Torah (Book of
Moses), Ingil (The gospel of Jesus), and Zabur (Psalms of David), the Bible is
considered as corrupt.According to the
scholar Dr. Theodor Noldeke, testifies: "For though it remains an open
question whether Mohammad was actually ignorant of reading and writing, it is
certain that he had neither read the Bible nor any other books" (Rasid,
M., Dr, 2010).Additionally, accordant
to archeology and inscriptions, the Book of Deuteronomy was likely written
around the 7th century B.C by the ancient Israelites in Judah (Schniedewind,
M., 2014).The Muslims believe that the Qur'an
is composed of words spoken by the archangel Gabriel to Muhammad. The Qur'an
was originally passed down orally; later it was compiled into one book (Islam,
2014).

Personal Review

Islam was the second monotheist
religion chosen for death and afterlife comparison in this paper.Their faith
in resurrection and salvation echoes some resemblance to the Catholic Church
belief.For example, 'good works is
weighed against sin'; therefore, the final decision is depended upon who
obtains salvation verses who stays in Hell until one's sins have been 'burned
away'.Muslims do not recognize the
Bible as a reliable source in comparison to the Islam's truth written in the
Quar'an. In this case, this paper sees a discrepancy between the reliability of
the Bible verses the Quar’an. More
importantly, as mentioned before, Prophet Muhammad was
born around 622 C.E. The Book of Deuteronomy in the Hebrew Bible was most
likely assembled around the 7th century B.C. in Judah.On the other hand, the discrepancy could be
due to the possibility that Muhammad was illiterate and unable to read the
Bible.Regardless if Muhammad could read
or not, it is the Muslim's acceptance of the Quar'an, which resonance Prophet
Muhammad's experienced with the archangel, as a divine origin with Allah:"He has revealed unto you (Muhammad) the
Scripture with truth, concerning that which was (revealed) before it, even as
He revealed the Tourat and the Injil" ((Rasid,
M., Dr, 2010).

Near-Death Experiences

The truth is no
one can really experience death and the afterlife and tell about it.As Christians, we can only rely on what the
Scriptures tell us, as in John 11: 23-26 in the New Testament. When Jesus spoke
to Martha, four days after her brother died: “Your brother will rise again.”
Then He said to her “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in
me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me
shall never die (John 11: 23,25-26, ESV).

Having said this,
is it possible that people who had a near-death experience might foreshadow
what the afterlife might be like?This
paper will recap experiences of two people, both who have had a near-death
experience.Both individuals had their
life change.

Dr. Mary Neal's Experience

Dr. Mary Neal is
an orthopedic spine surgeon, a mother, and active in the Pentecostal
church.Although as a young adult, she
had two near-miss occasions with death, a car accident and a deep diving
incident, it did not compare to the kayak incident that took place on the Fuy
River (noted for its ten-twenty foot waterfalls) in the Southern Chilean Los
Rios Region (M.C. Neal, MD, 2012, p.48). Mary and her husband, both experienced
kayakers, were looking forward to the challenge.What started out as beautiful day kayaking
down the river with a group of people, ended with Mary being pinned under both
a forceful waterfall and another group member's deserted kayak (M.C. Neal, MD,
2012, p.48).

According to
Mary's testimonial in the book “To Heaven and Back”, she did drown and died.
The rescue efforts took well over fifteen minutes for normal survival, from the
time between her faithful kayak companions to reached her capsize boat,
miraculously find her lifeless body and persistently resuscitate her until she
took her first breath (Neal, M.C., MD, 2012, pg. 59-65).On her spiritual journey, she felt loved,
serene, and “unadulterated essence”, as well as, being consciously aware of her
situation (Neal, M.C., MD, 2012, pg. 71). Intrigued, but in no pain, she felt
her knee bones break and the ligaments tear as she her body was freed from the
kayak and her soul released.Mary was
greeted by brilliant, shapeless formed spirits, some of she knew in the past,
who guided her down a brilliant, beautiful path to God.Emotions, thoughts and knowledge were all
communicated without language (Neal, M.C., MD, 2012, pg.68-74).Mary was eventually told by a special angel
that she had a purpose to those around her on earth and needed to return.Mary had other spiritual visits during her
recovery and used her near-death experience to help her patients, her family,
and herself (Neal, M.C., MD, 2012, pg.68-74).

Dr. Eban Alexander's experience

Dr. Eban
Alexander, an accomplished neurosurgeon, man of science, and researcher, was a
staunch believer that people who either had or believed in a near-death
experience, were people who lived in pure 'fantasy'.Dr. Alexander did not become a believer until
he was at the age of fifty-four.It
happened on November of 1988, when he succumbed to rare bacterial meningitis
that resulted in a seven-day coma, which miraculously resulted in a complete
recovery.His own near-death experience
showed “that the death of the body and the brain are not the end of
consciousness”, but continues under the “gaze of God” and His love for the
universe (Alexander, E., MD, 2012, pg. 9).

Dr. Alexander describes
his initial experience in the unknown, as “subterranean” where, grotesque
animal faces bubbled out of the muck giving out occasional groans or screeches
(Alexander, E., MD, 2012,pg.31).He soon became aware of “biological” smells
of feces, blood and vomit, like death itself (Alexander, E., MD, 2012, pg. 31-32).This most uncomfortable environment continued
until he was brought out of the core of blackness by a most beautiful
white-gold entity, with waves of color like a butterfly(Alexander, E., MD, 2012,pg.38).

This
extraordinary entity, in the form of girl with blue eyes that flies on a
butterfly wing, became a loving travel companion and interpreter between God
and himself, in whom Dr. Alexander later describes as an “orb” (Alexander, E.,
MD, 2012,pg 47). Dr. Alexander also represents
God's vast universe and presence as “omniscient”, “omnipotent”, and “loving”
(Alexander, E., MD, 2012,pg. 47).Subsequently, Dr. Alexander was grateful that
he was accompanied by this serene, compassionate orb.

Dr. Alexander
concluded that there was no sense of time in God’s universe and questions and
answers came instantaneously and enhance his learning about the universe.What he does acknowledge is that God's
universe veiled him with “unconditional love and acceptance” and “healed his
fragmented soul” (Alexander, E., MD, 2012, pg.170).

Conclusion

In summary, it is
a known fact that everyone will someday succumb to death's calling.Since this paper in taking a Lutheran stance,
every Lutheran church's Biblical understanding is that the death is the
separation of the immortal soul from the mortal body until the Second Coming of
the Lord.On Judgment Day, God will,
according to His creation, unite the soul with the imperishable body.There is no purgatory in the Lutheran's
belief.As stated before, God interprets
death as 'a sleep' which is more of a figurative expression explained clearly
in the Scriptures.Resurrection will be
on God's time.In John11: 25-26, Jesus
said “I am the resurrection and the life.He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives
and believes in me will never die”. (John11: 25-26, ESV)

Although the Islam religion is derived
according to the Qua'ran and not the Bible, Lutheran and Islam are still
monotheistic. Both believe in 'One true God', even though there are differences
in each religious ideology and practices.Conversely, there seems to be other similarities to Catholics, such as
Islam beliefs in resurrection and salvation that appears similar to the
Catholic's belief, such as the reward to salvation by 'good deeds'.Last, the two doctors' testimonials on their
near-death experience have changed both, in how each practices medicine and
their own perspective on life. Thus, both have found more inspiration in life,
more faith in God and no fear in dying,For a finishing touch, nothing says it best like Martin Luther: “Every
man must do two things alone; he must do his own believing and his own dying”
(Luther, M., Dr., 2014).

References

Alexander,
E., MD. (2012). Proof of heaven: A neurosurgeon's journey into the